Back in the early years of this blog – about 20 years ago – I would track all the movies I watched.

In the last couple years, I cut down on a lot of TV and film watching because I was looking at too many screens during my work day and I wanted time for my other hobbies.

Now that I am living mostly alone (temporarily) and knitting more, tv and film are back on my radar. I also have a big backlog of TV and films.

I also want to watch more French language things because I have not been using French at all in the last 5 years. Ten years ago, I even worked briefly in French so I’d like to keep it up.

Logan Lucky (22 03 2022) – Long overdue to watch this film which features two actors from my List of favourites. Hint: Channing Tatum is not one of them even though I like him fine. I have always liked Steven Soderbergh as a director. I love his fast shots and angles. Funny and entertaining movie. I felt really immersed in the world. It’s really nice watching an original, smaller budget film with great actors and not overly fancy CGI or effects. This movie is not in any cheap looking because of the script and the crew though. Really good.

Spider-man No way home – I wish I had seen this in theatres. Like many people of my generation, I saw the Tobey Maguire Spider-man movies in cinema and liked them. Well, the first 2 any way. I was spoiled for awhile going into this newest edition. I am a casual Marvel fan and do not watch every Marvel movie or TV show but there are definitely some characters and aspects to the movies which I like. I honestly think they captured some of the best of the first time Spider-Man franchises (including their leads) and the new Marvel ones. The ending is more bittersweet than most Marvel movies which I appreciated.

I planned to watch more things in April, but other things got in the way.

Always Be my Maybe (01 06 2019) – Very cute and funny. I liked a lot of the jokes and could relate to a lot of the character touches. Not all the jokes landed or the pacing at times, but it worked for me. I rewatched the Keanu Reeves intro scene a few times.

Madame de / The earrings of Madame de (07 06 2019) – Well shot with lovely visuals. An old French classic with a very romantic plot of affairs. It’s over the top romance that works because of Max Ophüls’s direction. It’s been awhile since I watched a black and white film, but this one reminded me of the lighting and shots that were so innovative back then. I enjoyed it and felt invested by the end. I watched it again with film critic commentary too.

Les Grandes Chaleurs / Heatwave (12 06 2019) – A Quebec film from 2009 which I got for Francois Arnaud from The Borgias a few years ago. This film is set in the Quebec City region which i visited in May again so I understood the area. It was a cute film but was a bit slow in parts.

La Pianiste / The Piano Teacher (12 06 2019) – This is one of those French films where there is a very repressed female protagonist. Erica is an unlikeable character with lots of issues. This is not an enjoyable film to watch but the direction and two leads did a good job.

Spider-man Far From Home (29 06 2019) – Watched this 3D abroad where it was not dubbed but maybe even slightly censored. I find 3D rather useless and it didn’t add to this film much. Watching with a non-english speaking audience was interesting as they didn’t find some things as funny but they found others hilarious. I don’t think this movie was as good as the first Marvel Spider-Man and it was predictable and too jokey in parts. I do like the main cast.

JUNE 2016

The Decoy Bride (09 06 2016) – In attempt to watch something after Jessica Jones where David Tennant is not a psycho, I had this in the queue. Tennant and Kelly Macdonald in Scotland can’t go wrong? Well, the script is not great. This is he kind of romantic comedy that could have made more money ten or twenty years ago, but is very much out of favour. There were trite and cliche situations. I really like the actors, but my mind wandered. My favourite moment was when an older deaf couple dance. That made me tear up. At least Tennant did use his soft romance eyes rather than his psycho ones.

JULY 2016

I can’t remember if I watched any movies. It was the summer of sports with Euros and the Olympics.

AUGUST 2016

Sophie’s Choice – I can’t remember when I watched this, but it was one of the most depressing movies I have seen in a long time. It took me two days to finish because I was bored during most of it. I did know the ending, but it took forever to get to that point. All the while, you have to watch some very unhealthy relationships. It was miserable. I like Meryl Streep and she was great in it, but I also get the criticisms of the book and the movie.

The Martian (30 08 2016) – Reviewed here.

Captain America: Civil War (30 08 2016) – When this movie first came out, I thoroughly spoiled myself. Usually this does not bother me, but it did feel like I had already watched the movie when I saw this one. Entertaining enough. Villain was largely forgettable again. Looking forward to Black Panther, Spider Man and Infinity Wars.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (03 05 2016) – I’m long overdue to watch this, but I do not like Apatow humor most of the time. I do like Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. Carell works for me because there is such a sweetness to him that works really well here. I did not find a lot of the humor funny, but I think the actors did well.

Hackers (07 05 2016) – So 90s. This is movie is only 21 years old and I remember 1995, but it feels even older than movies I’ve seen from the 80s or before. The fact that it heavily features technology and that the lead actors involved do not even look that old makes it feel oddly removed. The technology is so out dated compared to what we have now. Angelina Jolie looked like an elf. I’ve adored Johnny Lee Miller for years so he was cute in this too. I was a bit bored during some parts of the movie though since it got overly campy at times.

Deadpool (10 05 2016) – There was so much hype and good reviews about this that I was expecting more. Since I followed the media around it, I felt I had seen most of the movie already. Some of the humor was so-so for me, but I liked the fourth wall breaks and the meta jokes. Plot was formulaic. I do think Ryan Reynolds is meant for this role. I liked the soundtrack too.

Brooklyn (13 05 2016) – I enjoyed the book and as predicted, I liked this movie. With Nick Hornby adapting and starring Saorise Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson. I like the whole cast and loved the setting. The ending is more satisfying too.

Crimson Peak (15 05 2016) – Not enough Hiddlesbum. I do not really like horror, but I like Guillermo del Torro’s style. Good cast and everything was super creepy and stylistic. Plot was alright. It was nice seeing Charlie Hunman in a role where he’s a hero without really being the typical Hot Guy physical though.

Walk in the Woods (28 05 2016) – As someone who is a fan of Bryon’s writing, I wanted to watch this for him and the book, but also this cast. Robert Redford, Emma Thomspon, Nick Nolte, and Mary Steenburger are all in it. I do not think you see Redford in these quiet kind of roles anymore. Even though this movie has a lot of humor and talking, it is very much a “quiet” movie where not much actually happens and the pace is slow. You could almost say Thompson was wasted, but she is lovely in anything. Her and Redford had lovely chemistry too. I laughed a coupe of times, but this kind of movie is not for everyone. I think Bryson lovers will appreciate some of it. The book was funnier in other ways though.